Picnicking on Green Island

Green Island, lying west of South Bass Island, was favorite place for Cooke family members to picnic each summer. In August 1890, family members took along watermelon and staged a mock battle. Reverend Henry Cooke wrote that "Cousin Frank Barker stuck them [the Watermelon Brigade] up in a pyramid on the [Green Island] lighthouse steps and 'shot them.'" Green Island was an important navigational point. In 1854, a lighthouse was consturcted on the island. Today, Green Island is owned by the state of Ohio and serves as a bird sanctuary.